A vendor on a bicycle with vibrant silk flowers. The sight of the silk flowers immediately brought her home. She had grown up in the Netherlands thousands of miles from where she was. She was asked by her mother to carry the groceries back on her bicycle when she was a teenager. She complained about the weight of her groceries, but she discovered in Hanoi that almost anything can be carried by bicycle.
This moment of inspiration led to the creation of The Merchants in Motion and as a book. She discovered that vendors in Hanoi’s bustling streets carry all kinds of colorful items: fruits, vegetables, flowers and more. All of these are balanced in baskets. Heerink took photos of them while waiting on nearby bridges for hours to see the right vendor pass. She waited for five hours on one occasion only to come home without any photos.
She longed from the start to photograph one the flower sellers. She recalls, “While I waited for a vendor to arrive (which could take weeks or even months), I spent the time taking pictures of other vendors.” “I started to really enjoy my time on the bridges. I was able to pass the time by watching what happened below. “Sometimes, a woman on foot would walk across the bridge. She would sit with me and eat some of her products.”
She met many women in Hanoi, including migrant workers. Heerink states that the women she spoke to started very early in morning and worked until late night. They buy their products at the night market, and they work until late in the evening. Many of the vendors are walking kilometers each day. Tens of kilometers. Simply walking around town. “It’s usually the same cycle, so customers know when they are coming.”
The work is hard, and vendors are not allowed to go home very often. This usually depends on their children’s ages. The photographer explains that in order to save money they often live with other sellers and bring rice home. “It is cheaper there.”
Heerink then tried to locate the women to show them their final prints. She found a few of them. She remembers that “one vendor, Hoa bought fruits with pink nets surrounding them because she thought they would look beautiful in a photo,” “So sweet!”
She still misses Hanoi, where she lived from 2012 to 2015. She tells me, “It is a city that has a soul.” The streets are crowded, the people are friendly, the city is green and there’s always something to do or see. The social aspect of Hanoi is what I miss most. You can go out to dinner or sit on the porch with your neighbors when you have nothing else to do.
“Even though I don’t speak Vietnamese very well, it was nice to sit with neighbors and drink iced water on the street. Just thinking about the food makes me homesick for Hanoi. My friends still live in Hanoi. “I’d like to see my landlord and the landlady again, too.”
She misses them too. Heerink remembers that day when she took her first flower photo. She says, “I danced a bit after I snapped the picture.” I saw her approaching my spot and was afraid that she would turn to the Old Quarter. But she didn’t. It was International Women’s Day. The artist says, “I hope that street vendors in Hanoi will always be welcome.” “They really bring life to the city.”